“Yes, I missed you too!” Arden’s voice laughed, pulling me from my sleep.

I shifted, stretching and yawning. “Mm…that was a nice nap.” I groaned, rubbing my eyes as I sat up and looked around.

We were sitting in the cart, in the drive of a house I didn’t recognize. Must be in the town. Where was Winna? Why hadn’t she woken us up?

“Did you have a nice nap?”

“Yeah.” I yawned, looking over at him, and then gasped in surprised delight. “Oh my goodness!! Who is that?!”

A silver dragon about the size of a medium dog sat on Arden’s lap, getting a belly-rub. Arden grinned, “This is Silver! He lives with Dern, helps him find metal. He can sniff it out because he eats metal.” Arden told me.

“It’s lovely to meet you, Silver!” I giggled.

The little dragon gave a cute, dove-like cooing noise, and hopped up, then came to sit on my lap, so of course I had to pet him. Soon he flopped over on his back, letting me scratch his tummy, like Arden had been.

“He’s a cutie!” I laughed.

“He certainly is.”

“I knew there were miniature dragons, but I’ve never met one before.” I said. “Much less one that eats metal!”

“They’re a little rare. But not unheard of in this area.”

“Clearly! I’m so glad to meet him!”

“He’s a good boy.” Arden nodded.

I had a good look around as I continued to scratch Silver’s belly. “Where did Winna get to?”

“When I woke up, Silver went and got Dern and he told me that she went to go run some errands. I imagine she wanted us to sleep as long as we could. Since she wasn’t back when I woke up, I didn’t see any need to wake you up when you were sleeping so nicely.”

“I appreciate it. I feel very well-rested.” I smiled at him.

“I do too, and I didn’t sleep as long. It was a much-needed nap.” he stretched his arms. The long nap seemed to have done him a world of good.

“Absolutely.” I glanced at Rowan, who was still sawing logs. “We’ll have to wake him up, though.”

“It can wait until Winna is back.” Arden waved his hand languidly. “But if you want, Dern can look at the metal band on your tail, now that you’re awake.”

“Sure”

“I’ll go get Dern, then. He went back to his forge. I told him there was no need for him to wait here, since me or Silver could get him when you woke. I had a feeling we’d have to wake Rowan ourselves anyways.” he snorted.

“That’s usually the case!” I giggled.

Arden vaulted easily out of the cart.

“That’s very attractive!” I called after him. He squawked awkwardly, and hurried off, which made me giggle. Goodness he was cute!

Just as the white-haired soldier disappeared into a workshop behind the house, a man and a little girl walked up.

The man caught sight of me, and stared, then shook himself when I gave him a kind of sarcastic smile and wave.

“So sorry for staring. We don’t…get many merfolk around here.” he grimaced. “Are you waiting for Dern?”

“Yes.”

His eyes flickered down to the wagon, “That’s Winna’s cart, yeah?”

“Yes.” I nodded.

“I figured. That makes sense.” he nodded, smiling a little.

“Do you sing pretty, Miss Mermaid?!” the little girl asked, eyes sparkling.

“Kiki!” the man said sternly, “That’s not polite!”

“Oh, sorry, Miss Mermaid!” the little girl apologized, looking sad.

“It’s alright.” I smiled. It was much the same, but somehow different. I wasn’t being looked at like an object or an animal in a cage. I was being addressed as a person. “Are you here for Dern too?”

“Yes, I’m picking up a lamp he was working on for me.” the man said. “I’m Biren. Winna and Lear are friends of my father-in-law’s family. That’s why I recognized the cart.”

“Oh, I see!”

“Is mama coming?” the little girl wanted to know, looking around.

“I’m on the way!” A voice called as the woman in question approached. “I just got caught up talking to Tanta.” She caught sight of me, paused, then smiled. “Oh! Hello! How are you?”

I was even being greeted like a normal person. It was…nice. I smiled, bobbing my head politely at her. “I’m fine.”

“Is Winna around?” she asked, glancing at the cart.

“Somewhere, I’m told.” I shrugged, waving vaguely, since I myself wasn’t sure.

“Oh, Ena. Biren, how are you all?” Arden greeted the family as he exited the workshop. He looked at me, “Dern said he’s coming.”

“Alright.”

“Hi Arden!” Ena smiled, going to link arms with Biren.

“How are you all doing?” Arden asked as he walked back over to the wagon and let down the tailgate.

I scooted to the end and let my tail dangle off. The little girl gasped in delighted awe, “You’re so pretty, Miss Mermaid!”

“You can call me Marri.” I told her, smiling at how sweet she was.

“That’s a pretty name!” she giggled.

“It’s short for Marrina.”

“I like that too! My name is Kiki!”

“It’s nice to meet you, Kiki.” I replied, smiling at her. “Do you want to hear me sing? I was about to sing to wake up my friend here, he’s a centaur!” I motioned at Rowan, who was, of course, still sound asleep.

“Yes please!” she giggled.

Channeling my magic into my voice, I started to sing a song of awakening, wrapping it around Rowan.

He yawned, then stretched, “Oh, goodness!”

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“We have some company.” Arden told him. “Friends of Winna.”

Rowan sat, and shifted, “Oh, I see!”

I had continued to sing, this time to the family that stood there, just a gentle, peaceful song, feeling grateful for our nice interaction.

Silver finally hopped off my lap, and curled up beside me humming a harmony to my song, much like Charlie used to. Maybe dragons just liked music.

My song soon drew several other people, who had likely heard it and come to investigate.

“That’s a lovely song!” a rumbling sort of voice said from over by the workshop.

I glanced over and saw a dwarf walking towards us. For a moment, my heart raced, and I almost faltered in my singing, but the moment of uncertainty passed when I saw the twinkle of friendly blue eyes amidst the dwarf’s bushy beard, which was grey. Bellows’ beard was much shorter, and black. Bellows also he dark, soulless eyes, not crinkly, happy blue ones.

I wrapped my song around this newcomer as well, knowing he must be Dern.

After a couple more minutes, I saw Winna coming down the street, smiling at me as she walked, arm-in-arm, with another human woman who looked about her age, maybe a little older. But Winna was magical, and would have as long a life as any fey person, so it was entirely possible that her friend was actually her age.

Since Dern and Winna were there, I let my song come to a close.

“That was lovely, thank you!” Ena gushed.

“It was so pretty!” Kiki giggled, clapping her hands happily.

“It was.” Rowan agreed, clambering out of the cart and stretching his legs.

“Well, it looks like the timing of this worked out really well!” Winna said as she walked up.

“Winnaaaaaa! Your new friends are so cool!” Ena giggled, going and carefully hugging the curly-haired mage.

“I’ll say!” the other woman with Winna said.

“Bekka, how are you?” Ena greeted her.

“Just fine!” Bekka nodded, she detached herself from Winna’s side and went and put the large basket she was carrying in the back of the cart, beside me, “Could you stick this up towards the front?”

“Here.” Arden took it and stowed it closer to the front of the cart.

“Thank you.” Bekka nodded.

“Well, you had quite an audience.” Winna smiled. Her and Dern approached. “Marri, Rowan, this is Dern.”

“Pleasure to meet you both.” Dern bowed low. “Winna said I can help you somehow. And Arden said something about needing those metal bands to come off?”

“Yes.” Rowan nodded, shaking his hind leg that had the band on it so that it bobbled around.

“I’ll see what I can do.” he turned to Biren, “I have your lamp ready, let me go get it.”

“No, you help these folks. Is it on the table in the workshop?”

“Yes. The only lamp, you can’t miss it.” Dern nodded.

“Great. Thanks!” Biren disappeared into the workshop and returned in the blink of an eye, carrying a lantern. “Well, ladies, we should probably head back. Your dad will be wondering what’s taking us so long, Ena.”

“Tell Jedda I said hi.” Winna smiled at them.

“We will!” Ena sang.

“Bye Winna!” Kiki said.

“Bye honey! I’ll see you later!” the mage called as the family walked off.

“I should go! I’ll come by the cottage to talk tomorrow, maybe.” Bekka told Winna, then turned to us. “It was good to see you again, Arden, and it was lovely to meet you two! Thank you for singing, that was lovely!”

I smiled, “Thank you!”

Bekka bade her friend farewell as well, and walked off.

“Well, now that the excitement is over, let’s have a look at this.” Bellows said, going over to Rowan. “Is it okay if I touch it?”

“Of course.” Rowan nodded. “I expect you’ll have to.”

“Yes.”

“I couldn't do anything with it. But runes aren’t my forte. That’s why I thought we should come to you.” Winna said as the dwarf examined the rune-carved band around Rowan’s leg.

“Hmm…This is a nasty piece of work. Whoever did it…” the dwarf shuddered. “They knew what they were doing, but it’s evil. I’d never put that on a person.”

“Well, Bellows is evil, so it tracks.” I muttered.

“Absolutely.” Rowan sighed.

“Let me see what I can do. I’m…not sure I’ll be able to do anything, but I’ll at least give it my best effort. These runes weren’t made for purposeful breaking.”

“Don’t we know it!” Rowan gave a wry bark of laughter.

Dern went back into his workshop and returned carrying several tools.

Silver hopped down and rubbed up against Rowan’s legs, sniffing at the band as Dern tried various tools to cut through it, each with no avail.

A sense of dread began to grow in me. What if he couldn't get it off? What then? Would we have to flee this little haven so soon, just to make sure Bellows couldn't get close enough to make the binding runes function properly again?

After the dwarf had gone through every tool he’d brought out, he retrieved a book from his house, flipped through it for a while, and then alternated between staring at runes on the band and the pages of the large tome, he sighed. When he spoke, his tone was grave, “I’m afraid I’m not going to be able to-”

But the dwarf cut off as Silver, seeing that Dern had let go of the band, immediately took a large bite out of the metal, and chewed happily.

There was a slight sizzling noise, but the portion of the metal band that wasn’t in Silver’s mouth, fell to the ground with a dull thunk.

Everyone stared as the little dragon snapped up the rest of the restraint, making a happy sort of rumbling noise.

My heart pounded, “Hey Silver, want to eat another one?”

The dragon happily padded over and took a huge bite out of the band on my tail, then once more, snapped up the rest of it after it had fallen off.

“Oh. My. Goddess!” Winna gasped, then burst into giggles.

“He…he did it!” Rowan stammered. “How is that possible? The runes were meant to keep it from breaking!”

“Well…I guess…there was a loophole. Eating isn’t breaking.” Dern said slowly. “At least, not to Silver, anyways. He saw food, and he ate it.”

“So, intent mattered?” Winna asked, frowning a little.

“Yes, I guess it did!” Dern exclaimed, then threw his head back into a hoarse, gravelly laugh. He knelt by Silver, who was looking around confusedly. “Oh, you’re such a good, good boy, Silver!” The little dragon vibrated with happiness as the dwarf petted him and showered him with praise, though it was clear he didn’t understand exactly what he’d done. “I’m so glad you’re my friend and helper! I never could have helped these nice people without you!”

“I…I can’t believe it.” Rowan stammered, still seeming gobsmacked.

“We’ll need to borrow Silver when we go to free the rest of them, would that be okay? I know he helps you around here, but it would be a lot easier to do it onsite than to try to bring everyone here first.” Arden asked Dern.

“I want to go with you when you go to help free the rest of them.” Dern said as he stood, now serious. “From what you tell me, this Bellows has much to atone for. I want to do my part in healing the wrongs caused by a member of my kin.”

“Dern, you don’t have to do anything. You aren’t beholden to any of us just because you’re also a dwarf.” I murmured.

“All the same. I don't hold with such evil! Although rest assured, were the perpetrator not a dwarf, I’d still want to come help.” he said firmly.

“Thank you.” I smiled, “And thank you so, so much for helping us!”

“Well, I didn’t do anything, in the end.” he looked down at Silver, his eyes crinkling as he smiled at his little dragon friend.

“We got so lucky.” Arden snorted.

“We did.” Rowan agreed. “Who’d have ever thought…just eat it off!”

“Well, how many beings eat metal like Silver does?!” I snorted, rolling my eyes. “We never could have known!”

“No, of course not.” Dern said, shaking his head. “I doubt that Bellows knew there was a loophole. I never would have thought of it. Most of the time, runes aren’t of a nature that they allow for loopholes, but they’re also not really intended to be used the way they were being used here. They’re used to provide services, or to keep a useful item from breaking, not to bind someone to another’s will, or used as unbreakable restraints for sentient beings. So a loophole was created.”

“Thank Marna!” Winna sighed, rubbing her tummy. “Because I know I couldn't get it off. If you couldn't have gotten it off, Dern, I don’t know what we would have done!”

“Do you think maybe Marna would have been able to take them off? I mean, she is a goddess.” Arden tilted his head to the side.

“Hmm…” Winna frowned, “I think she’d have run into jurisdictional issues with the dwarven gods.”

“That’s entirely possible.” Dern nodded.

Joy bubbled up inside me, drawing laughter from my lips. “We’re free, Rowan! Free!” I cried.

The centaur flung his arms around me in a huge hug, squeezing gently. “We get to go home! Gods, I bet my kids are huge!”

“I bet they are too! Big and strong and healthy!” I giggled as he pulled away.

“I’ll talk to Lear when he gets back to see what we can do about finding your family, Marrina.” Arden said, reaching out and taking my hand.

“Do you think it’ll be possible?” I flipped my hand over in his to squeeze it gently.

“Of course it is.” He smiled at me, golden eyes crinkling.

With the band off my tail, he might just kiss me, now. Probably not in front of everyone, right then and there, but soon. That was something to look forward to!